Promise
by AnnaJayBelle
Summary: Nessie has a nightmare and Edward tries to comfort her with a game that they made up together. What game is this? Will it cheer her up?


The thunder shook the house. All of us were used to it by now, it was the time of the season where rain would come and go, a hot day would come again, then the here came the rain once more. The weather was ever changing and this irritated my wife greatly.

"Can't the weather just make up its mind already!" She threw her hands up in the air as the lightning brightened up the room.

Alice and Jasper were hunting. Yes…hunting in a storm and though it wouldn't normally effect a vampire my sister would most certainly find a way to find it annoying. I could imagine her and Jasper soak and wet to the skin and trying to hunt. Alice would be worried about her hair and Jasper would be annoyed with Alice's emotions. This thought I found entertaining and I began grinning. I almost laughed when the picture in my head of my brother and sister came to life right before my eyes.

"Ugh!" Alice groaned as she ringed out her jeans and shirt. Jasper was grabbing a towel and handed it to her as she snatched it from his hands. My brother looked annoyed and half ready to snatch the towel back and throw it out the window, though I knew he would do no such thing to Alice. No matter what his mood was like.

"This…weather!" She said angrily as she began rubbing her hair dry with the piece of cloth in her hand. Her rubbing movements were more of angry movements and so for a human, it would give them terrible rug burn. "And _Jasper_ left the keys in the car to my Porsche-"

"Alice, it was sunny as could be when we left." Jasper snapped. "Plus, you wouldn't let me break the window. If you would have, we could have just driven-"

"Please! Me? Let you break the window to my car? I think not!" Alice flung the towel at his face as she stomped out of the door entrance, up to her room, and slammed the door. Jasper stood there for a moment thinking, _Edward, why are women so difficult?_ I sighed and shrugged indicating I had no idea why.

He went upstairs to give in and apologize to his wife, this I did not blame him. When Alice was mad, the whole world was off balance.

I then sat at the kitchen table and began working on some of the bills that Carlisle had not had time to get to this evening. I listened to the too fast heart beating child on the couch, dozing sleepily with her favorite movie still playing on the screen but was of no use to her now. My Renesmee had fallen asleep here and it had looked like she was resting so slumber that Bella or I hadn't wanted to wake her to take her home to the cottage.

We decided to stay here for the night, knowing the storm would wake her in the tiny home we had.

As I worked on the papers before me, I heard the stir and heavy breathing of my daughter. I turned her way to find drops of sweat on her tiny forehead, the clutching of blankets beneath her tiny fists, and lastly her heart beating like a humming bird's. Her brows were scrunched together and she looked so uneasy that it felt like a sin to let it go on any longer. I saw her nightmare as I dipped into her thoughts.

_She was standing in the meadow, the Volturi before her. Two of the Volturi still had their hoods up and their faces not yet exposed. Aro was motioning her forward but she was shaking her head at his gesture. The two cloaks to the right of Aro removed their hoods and exposed all too familiar faces. _

_Victoria and James stood before her with devilish smiles. Laurent then came from the darkness of the forest around our meadow with two stumbling creatures. My wife and I._

_Renesmee cried for them to leave us alone and for them to kill her instead. They shook their heads silently and ripped our heads off while laughing at my screaming daughter. She screamed and screamed. And screamed…_

I whimpered and by now the family was watching me with wary eyes and moving their gazes from my daughter to me. From me to my daughter.

"I have to- She's having a- I am-" I muttered as I quickly went to my daughter's side and shook her gently. My family had never seen me speechless before and this was a first for all of them. Renesmee stirred even more at my motions on her little arms. Her eyes squinted together tightly before she opened them to meet my sight completely. She was back from her nightmare and for this I was thankful. "Hey baby, you were having a nightmare." I whispered, kissing her hot forehead and wishing that it had been me having the nightmare and not her.

She looked confused at first, then she remembered, for her thoughts reminded her of the horrid dream that her mind had come up with. I ached for her, inside and out, as she cried.

I lifted her up and cradled her to my chest. I remembered myself of the Volturi and to me that was as close as I was going to get to any nightmare of mine. Just of the mere thought of having to _think_ of the Volturi made me want to cry myself and weep in my daughter's arms. I hated seeing her this way and I blamed everyone one of those sick human eating monsters in Volterra.

"Shhh, its alright. Its alright."

"No, its-its not," She sobbed. "It was horrible. A horrible dream. Horrible."

"I know, I know honey. I'm so sorry. I wish I could take all your nightmares away and have them for you. You don't realize how much I wish that." I whispered into her hair, taking in her wonderful scent. I caught a glance at the family standing around me, and although keeping their distance they all respectfully retreated the room but I had no doubt that they could still hear us. They were vampires after all.

"Daddy? Will they ever come back?"

"No honey. Never. I won't let them, I promise." I smiled knowing those two measly little words meant the world to my daughter Renesmee, and I also knew that they would cheer her up. That's why I said them.

"Follow me, I need witnesses." She said, taking my hand and wiping her tears away with the other. She was acting very professional about this and I found it to be quite amusing. I laughed out loud as we approached our very confused family.

"Daddy, please repeat the last two words you said."

"I promise…"

"Promise like the cherry on top?"

"Promise like a balloon might pop." I vowed seriously. She nodded her head and began pacing back and forth, rubbing her chin.

"Like every President promises to reduce taxes?"

"Like Atticus Finch's glasses." The whole family howled with laughter at the game my daughter and myself had made up. The concept was to keep it going for as long as you could. Rhyme the words until you ran out of rhyming words, and if the person who made the promise loses, then that person didn't mean their promise.

"Promise like Uncle Jazz likes to read?"

"Promise like in the Civil War he used to lead."

"Promise like Uncle Emmett is strong?"

"Promise like your Uncle Emmett is always wrong." The family has non stopped laughing now and was simply shaking the whole house with their joy.

"Promise like Momma can shield?"

"Promise like she did on the field."

"Promise like the sky is blue?"

"Promise like I love you." She smiled and ran up to me, and once again we seemed to be the only two people in the world. "I love you too Daddy, you win." She said, resting her head on my shoulder and dozing off once more. "Keep the nightmares away, keep them-" She was asleep and was unable to finish her sentence.

I laid her on my chest, laying myself beneath her on the couch. Her head was resting gently on my chest as she slept soundly. I would keep my promise, I had to. I had promised to keep the Volturi away and that I would follow through with. If those poor excuses of life ever set foot inside my territory again, I will kill them.

That wasn't a threat, that was a _promise._


End file.
